This week is parent teacher conferences. My new plan for this year is to use my laptop to show parents the student blogs and our class wiki. We have our conferences in the gym so I had our IT department get me a 25 foot cable to connect to the internet through the gym closet. I am excited to try this format for conferences.
My gut feeling is that many of the parents do not know or have not looked at their student's blogs. The other thing that all teachers are doing is passing out "business cards." The cards are color printouts of our names, e-mails, and class blogs or wikis. Again we are trying to get parents to visit the sites since this is the first year that we have all created them.
Has anyone else done this or something similar? How did it go for you?
Awesome idea!!! You are basically showing each parent a digital portfolio of everything that the students are doing. I'd have each student blog about thier best and worst thing on the blog/wiki for the quarter, with links and reflections.
ReplyDeleteOur conferences are a different format. Parents come from classroom to classroom to meet with us for 10 minute blocks. I plan to use my SmartBoard to show student grades (which are posted to my class website), student blogs, and recent web-based projects that each parent's child has recently completed. I hope it gives parents a "window" into their child's experience and work without fumbling through a pile of papers.
ReplyDeleteAs a technology teacher, using computers for parent conferences was second nature. I would have one set up in the hall with a slide-show of student work and info about the class for parents waiting to see me.(later, I mounted one outside my classroom: http://www.dutiel.com/fun/).
ReplyDeleteI would have a computers with me to show parents their child's specific work, and I encouraged students to log into their computer to show what we were doing at the time.
Yes, do it, it will help mom and dad understand. It might even help moms and Dads realize the importance which in turn might help you district. I teach technology to pre-service teachers at Kansas State University.
ReplyDeleteI did. I had my computer on one of the desks next to me the whole time, tuned in to our classroom blog. When I saw parents/student coming, I quickly loaded their posts, then showed Mom and Dad figure out how to get their child's posts quickly. Gave quick tour of blog, showed how to subscribe via email, and handed out permission slip for putting video on our blog.
ReplyDeleteI felt like an infomercial but it was all for a good reason.
Thanks to everybody's input. Sound like a good idea from everybody. I will let you know how it goes. Tonight I need to get podcasts on our class blog.
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